Under the Tuscan Sun
SATURDAY:
Today was WINE TASTING DAY! Or in other words “The Tuscany Experience.” The day started when we met our fabulous tour guide for the day, Manny who works for the company Italy on a Budget (www.italyonabudget.com).
This guy was literally the most AMAZING man ever. He was an Italian guy whose favourite phrase was ‘mamma mia’. Legend. The company is also pretty great and organise trips around Italy for 18–30 year olds cheap so you can see a lot of Italy on a teeny budget! Check them out if you happen to be coming to Italy and want to do lots for cheap.
The first stop on the tour list was Monteriggioni, literally the smallest town in Italy, surrounded by huge medieval walls. Manny said there were 40ish houses in the town and there is just a church, convenience store and bar/café and then just a few houses and lots of cats!
The second stop was Siena, a medieval town about an hour and a half out of Florence. The town is best known for its main square is called Piazza del Campo and home to the famous horse race held twice a year in July and August called the Palio horse race. The Piazza is dominated by the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia (the tower). The town is exquisite, and unlike Florence is very hilly and much more medieval (see the photos for more).
It was in Siena that I had an amazing chocolate brioche and coffee. The three P’s — pastry, pizza and pasta are basically the reason I’ve put on 3 kilos since being here… Whoops.
The third stop on the tour was San Gimignano, a town about 15 minutes away from Siena and the home of the world’s best gelato, which definitely did not disappoint! I had crème brulee flavour and I probably could have eaten it all day and then forever but that’s just personal opinion. This town is also really gorgeous and because it was winter it was pretty quiet which was nice.
The fourth and final stop was only about 10 minutes from San Gimignano and was a little Tuscan farm and vineyard. Our group of 8 girls was pretty keen for tasting a few wines, balsamic oil and truffle oil and I think our tour guide regretted giving us so much wine in the end. (sorry Manny we love you!!!)
When we got back to Florence we were all a little tipsy so decided to have a few of the girls over to our apartment for more wine before heading out to Red Garter, a karaoke bar about 20 minutes away from the apartment. It’s pretty much designed for Contiki/Topdeck groups and was full of Aussies which was so great! It was fun dancing and singing typical Aussie songs…. So so much fun!!
SUNDAY:
After the night we had Sunday morning wasn’t quite so good or productive. There were 4 sore heads in the apartment but I couldn’t waste the most beautiful day in Florence I’d seen all week so Steph and I went for a little stroll to Pitti Palace and the Boboli gardens. Probably the best choice I’ve made since I’ve been here — the grounds were amazing and enormous. My new favourite place in Florence!!
#soznotsozforphotospam
